Holy Trinity, Perfect Community

by Leonardo Boff, Phillip Berryman (Translator)

Overview

Why be concerned with the Trinity? What does it mean to say, "I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?" In this accessible work Leonardo Boff takes up the ancient doctrine of the Trinity showing its meaning and relevance for Christian faith today.

In a series of short chapters Boff unpacks the mysteries of the Trinity, spelling out the difference it makes to believe that God is communion rather than solitude. Instead of an image of God as solitary ruler standing aloof above a static universe, belief in the Trinity means that at the root of everything there is movement, there is an eternal process of life, of outward movement, and love.

While comprehensive in his treatment of the theological and anthropological dimensions of the Trinity, Boff is especially interested in the social implications. In the Trinity we find a program of liberation to the infinite degree: "difference and distinction, equality and perfect communion." The Holy Trinity is, among other things, the image of the perfect community. At the same time, in the Trinity we find the best image of the church: not a hierarchy of power, but a community of diverse gifts and functions. Thus comprehension of the Trinity, in which God comes out to meet us in the full realization of our yearnings, empowers our efforts for a better world and a more faithful church.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570753329
Publisher:	Orbis Books
Publication date:	10/28/2000
Pages:	125
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.24(h) x 0.39(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
	Introduction: Holy Trinity, Our Liberation Program	xv
I	In the beginning is the communion of the Three not the solitude of a One
1.	From the solitude of a One to the communion of the Three	1
2.	In the beginning is communion	3
3.	Why only three divine Persons? Why not two or just one?	4
4.	It's dangerous to say: One God in heaven and one head on earth	7
5.	A disintegrated experience of the blessed Trinity	9
6.	The same glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit	11
7.	The blessed Trinity is a mystery ever to be known anew	12
8.	Perichoresis: The interpenetration of the three divine Persons	14
9.	The Father's two hands, the Son and the Holy Spirit	16
II	The revealing of the Trinity
10.	How has the Father of infinite kindness been revealed?	18
11.	How has the Son, our brother, been revealed?	20
12.	How has the Holy Spirit, our strength, been revealed?	22
13.	The trinitarian awareness of the early Christians	23
14.	The Old Testament preparation for the revelation of the Blessed Trinity	25
III	Human reason and the Blessed Trinity
15.	How Christians have expressed the Blessed Trinity	28
16.	Three ways of understanding the Blessed Trinity	30
17.	Key words for expressing faith in the Blessed Trinity	32
18.	Erroneous ways of understanding the Blessed Trinity	33
IV	Human imagination and the Blessed Trinity
19.	Believing also with our imagination	36
20.	The human person as image of the Trinity	38
21.	The human family, symbol of the Trinity	39
22.	Society as image of the Trinity	41
23.	The church, great symbol of the Trinity	43
24.	The world, sacrament of the Trinity	44
V	What the Blessed Trinity is: Communion of life and love among the divine Three
25.	The Trinity is an eternal communication of life	47
26.	I-Thou-We: The Blessed Trinity	49
27.	The Trinity as an eternal self-communication	51
28.	The Blessed Trinity is the perfect community	53
29.	Male and female within the Blessed Trinity	55
30.	Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist together from all eternity	57
31.	In the Trinity all relationships are threefold	58
32.	Three suns but a single light: Such is the Blessed Trinity	60
VI	The communion of the Trinity: Critique and inspiration for society and church
33.	Beyond capitalism and real socialism	63
34.	From a church-as-society to a church-as-communion	65
VII	The Person of the Father: Mystery of tenderness
35.	Who is the Father? Mystery of tenderness	68
36.	The Father, eternal root of all sister-and-brotherhood	70
37.	Motherly Father, and fatherly Mother	72
38.	The Father, principle without principle	74
39.	How the Father appears: In the mystery of all things	75
VIII	The Person of the Son: Mystery of communication and principle of liberation
40.	Who is the Son? Eternal communication	78
41.	The eternal Son of the eternal Father in the Holy Spirit	80
42.	The male and female of the Son and our Brother	81
43.	The mission of the Son: Liberate and make all sons and daughters	83
IX	The Person of the Holy Spirit: Mystery of love, and in-breaking of the new
44.	Who is the Holy Spirit? The driving force of full liberation	86
45.	The Spirit is always united with the Son and the Father	88
46.	The simultaneity of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son	90
47.	The feminine dimension of the Holy Spirit	92
48.	Mission of the Holy Spirit: To unify and create the new	93
49.	The unique relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary	95
X	The Trinity in heaven and the Trinity on earth: The internal history of the Trinity reflected in the external history of creation
50.	As it was in the beginning: The eternity of the Trinity	98
51.	The Trinity in heaven manifests itself on earth	100
52.	The glory and joy of the Trinity	101
53.	Creation projected toward communion	103
54.	Each divine Person helps in creating the universe	105
55.	Signs of the Trinity under the shadow of history	107
56.	Now and forever: The Trinity in creation and creation in the Trinity	109
	Conclusion: Summary of trinitarian doctrine: The whole in many fragments	111
	Glossary: Technical theological terms used for discussion of the Trinity	117